Where you carry your weight has serious health ramifications. The most dangerous type of weight is core body fat (abdominal obesity). People who carry weight more evenly distributed over their entire bodies are less at risk for disease than those who follow the more classic fat distribution patterns. Unfortunately, most men and women store excess weight above and below the waistline where it hurts the body the most.
For a variety of reasons, including hormones and metabolic processes that affect fat storage in particular areas of the body, when men and women first begin to gain weight, they do not store it in the same place. A typical overweight man looks like an apple. He carries his weight above the waist, resulting in the classic bulging abdomen, also known as the beer belly. A typical overweight woman carries her fat below the waist in the hips and the buttocks, resulting in a pear-shaped silhouette.
When obesity sets in, people often develop a reverse fat pattern. A man will not only have a huge belly but will start putting on considerable weight below the waist in the hips and buttocks. Women will not only store fat below the waist but will carry a large amount of abdominal fat, turning them into an apple shape. While being overweight increases health risks, crossingover into a reverse fat pattern is a move toward serious health risks.
Many fat-loss books give nutritional guidelines but do not feature the kind of high-powered exercise program that you really need. But studies clearly show that eating right must be coupled with exercising right to really pay off. A recent study done by the Human Nutrition Program and published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry clearly proves that while dieting is more effective in causing weight loss, exercise is more effective in reducing fat and building metabolically active lean body mass.
Remember, the choices you make in the area of lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise count toward 75 percent of your health profile. And it is never too late to start improving your health.
